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bariswheel

336 karma · joined July 24, 2012

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bariswheel··on Tell HN: Bob Cringely has died
I read Accidental Empires when I was younger, RIP Bob.
bariswheel··on Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates
Super neat. So instead of just randomizing a map and generating random geography like Minecraft, it's going to randomize the fundamental rules of the universe. Brave new world!!
bariswheel··on Dolly Parton has died
She was a kind soul and I could sense she was extremely battle hardened, the perfect combo. A true philanthropist. For those who may not know, she originally wrote and sang Whitney Houston's biggest single 'I will always love you'
bariswheel··on 'Ghost job' ads are getting so bad that lawmakers want to ban them
Building a talent pool by disingenuously leaving a position open to farm resumes and have a warm pipeline of candidates should be 'regulated' at the least. I'm trying to write politely today.
bariswheel··on Will you have spent more of your life with computers than your family?
Don't be so hard on yourself. Yes, valid observation and time to curtail it a bit. But I think the 'stare at a screen' thing is a bit oversimplified. A computer is a medium of connection, mostly to other humans, or at least indirectly to human's work, art, etc.. So it's mostly using a tool for 'connection.' With anything, moderation is good, even moderating the moderation. But you're not staring at a brick. Don't oversimplify it.
bariswheel··on Semaglutide linked to lower predicted dementia risk
tdlr: This is a Novo Nordisk-funded study focusing on predictive biomarkers rather than real-world dementia cases. Novo Nordisk's actual dedicated clinical trials for Alzheimer's completely failed to show that semaglutide stops cognitive decline.

"A predictive biomarker is like a "check engine" light on your dashboard. It warns you that there is a risk of a future problem. In this study, the researchers only checked if the drug turned off the "check engine" light (by measuring blood proteins), rather than testing if the car was actually driving properly (by testing the patients' actual memory and brain function)."

Always do FIRST analysis on studies. Or have AI do it for you. I used Gemini to dig into this:

"Novo Nordisk funded this study, and several of the researchers are employees or minor shareholders. While corporate funding doesn't automatically mean the data is fabricated, it does mean the company is highly motivated to find and publish data that makes their blockbuster drug (semaglutide, marketed as Wegovy, Ozempic, and Rybelsus) look like a preventative treatment for a wider range of conditions, expanding its market and driving up profits."

"Funding: The study was funded by Novo Nordisk A/S.

Investigation: Researchers conducted a post hoc analysis using data from the randomized, placebo-controlled SELECT trial. They applied the Dementia SomaSignal Test (dSST)—a 25-protein risk score—to non-fasted serum samples collected at baseline and at week 104 to estimate 5-year and 20-year all-cause dementia risk in patients receiving semaglutide (2.4 mg) versus a placebo.

Results: Semaglutide significantly attenuated the progression of the dementia risk signature. Compared to the placebo group, the 5-year predicted risk increased 2.5-fold less (a 26.0% lower predicted event rate) and the 20-year risk increased 1.67-fold less (an 8.8% lower rate). Semaglutide also lowered the odds of patients moving into a higher dementia risk category by 36%.

Subjects: The analysis included 2,970 older adults aged 65 and older (mean age of ~69.7 years) who had overweight or obesity and cardiovascular disease, but no history of diabetes. The cohort consisted of 814 women (27.4%) and 2,156 men (72.6%).

Time: The study evaluated data over a 104-week (2-year) follow-up period. The analysis was published on August 8, 2026."

And then map the weakness to each respective letter if you want to dig deeper.

bariswheel··on GPT‑Live
I don't think the voice feature should act like a human, but 'complement' it. I already have friends I can talk to. Perhaps for quick answers it might be helpful but Google already does that for me and I don't have to worry about having to 'archive' the chat later and creates clutter.

I really hope at some point we can 'option click' or whatever, and choose multiple threads to archive. It takes FOREVER to archive the cluttery chats one by one. That's my one wish feature, please make batch cleanup of my client reasonably easy. Imagine having to delete one file at a time in a folder of 50 plus files. Barf.

bariswheel··on GPT‑Live
I found myself probing more and more questions to have it do that, I wish it could remember to provide details answers, I thought the replies were way too short and hand-wavy like one of the prior comments suggested.
bariswheel··on GPT‑Live
If it's not able to connect to my other apps like gcal, it should suggest that I use the standard gpt client, instead of telling me 'I don't have the capability to do that' which is misleading as some might presume the normal client doesn't have that capability either.
bariswheel··on GPT‑Live
Exactly. I told the assistant to create world cup google calendar entries and it said it can't connect to my calendar, whereas I can have it do that with no issues on the normal gpt client.
bariswheel··on GPT‑Live
For important and learning tasks,I would not use the voice feature as it was way too short and 'conversational'. I would use the 'record' feature and have it read the long, articulate answer to me. If this new conversation feature doesn't feel like I'm 'hanging out' with a friend, but actual longer high content answers, It'll win me over. Otherwise I thought the previous conversation mode was way too watered down and I found myself getting frustrated having to keep asking many questions to further probe down to the details. I don't know, these things don't change much, we'll see.
bariswheel··on Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study
A small catch here. Make sure to drink plenty of water if you want to keep your kidneys healthy.
bariswheel··on New iPad Air, powered by M4
How was the battery held up? I have the same one, but the battery lasts only 25 minutes max, pretty sure it's shot. Any tips on making sure battery lasts a while? I might even switch out the battery myself.
bariswheel··on I miss thinking hard
Good highlight of the struggle between Builder and Thinker, I enjoyed the writing. So why not work on PQC? Surely you've thought about other avenues here as well.

If you're looking for a domain where the 70% AI solution is a total failure, that's the field. You can't rely on vibe coding because the underlying math, like Learning With Errors (LWE) or supersingular isogeny graphs, is conceptually dense and hasn't been commoditized into AI training data yet. It requires that same 'several-day-soak' thinking you loved in physics, specifically because we're trying to build systems that remain secure even against an adversary with a quantum computer. It’s one of the few areas left where the Thinker isn't just a luxury, but a hard requirement for the Builder to even begin.

bariswheel··on Prism
I used overleaf during grad school and was easy enough, I'm interested to see what more value this will bring. Sometimes making less decisions is the better route, e.g. vi vs MS word, but I won't speak too much without trying it just yet.
bariswheel··on A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth
No they don't, it's permissionless technology. Read the web site.
bariswheel··on A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth
Indeed, it's immature to disclose an opinion without being forthcoming and add some objective rationale behind a bold conclusion as disliking an entire person. It may be something they said, or did, getting specific would help, ideally something that is relevant to the original thread. It's not entirely helpful and potentially a negative impact to just imply you don't like someone. Do what you want obviously, that's my 2 cents.
bariswheel··on Neural Networks: Zero to Hero
This new? Hasn't the zero-to-hero course been around for a while?
bariswheel··on OpenAI's cash burn will be one of the big bubble questions of 2026
thank you!
bariswheel··on Google is dead. Where do we go now?
Gross clickbait title, do better with your article titles.
bariswheel··on Size of Life
The music is so moving, tear inducing. One of the best links I've seen posted here and I've been here 15+ years. Well done Neal. I wish credit was given to the music, anyone know who created it?
bariswheel··on The death of industrial design and the era of dull electronics
This is why companies like teenageengineering.com has a niche slice of the market. We need similar companies out there, albeit with much lower prices.
bariswheel··on 30 minutes with a stranger
Not really though. When people are busy and attempting to go from A to B, they may want to eliminate variables to better focus on their friends or something else in the Waymo. This is similar to the experiment where an incredible musician played violin in the subway terminal and people 'ignored' him. It's all about intention, when people plan to talk to a stranger, they're geared for that, if they are on their way somewhere, it's not the time or place to stop and 'smell the roses' most of the time as they are in a rush, doesn't have much to do with how great the musician is in the subway. When people go to a concert, and if that's same musician in the subway, they'll most definitely enjoy it, because they're planning on enjoying music at that time.
bariswheel··on I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
Similar to this idea to increase accessibility:

Just use tasks.google.com

Add your todos, when finished, type DONE in front of it, this way it' a journal and you get to feel good about all the things you've done since you're always looking at your list. Anything without a DONE needs to be done. You can write details in each entry, too.

No subscriptions, no fees, accessible from your phone, computer. etc. Keep it simple, folks.

bariswheel··on Anthropic launches a voice mode for Claude
I really want to like Claude, but I hit their limit WAY too early when I PAID for it, 9 months ago, WAY before I hit any type of limit on gippity. (gippity - gpt , gimminy - gemini).
bariswheel··on RIP Val Kilmer: Real Genius .. the Film Nerd Culture Deserves (2015)
Turkey Creek Jack Johnson: Why do you do it? Doc Holliday: Wyatt is my friend. Turkey Creek Jack Johnson: Friend? Hell, I got lots of friends. Doc Holliday: I don’t.

Goodbye Doc Holliday.

bariswheel··on Decline of cash credited for drop in surgery for children swallowing objects
Terrible headline.
bariswheel··on I am rich and have no idea what to do
Post-scarcity world will likely make these scenarios more common.
bariswheel··on AnandTech Farewell
So much nostalgia from my teen and 20s, this site was not only entertaining but equally educational and always looked forward to reading the next review. I hadn't thought much of this website frankly in decades, but this is a bittersweet encounter, thank you for all the great memories and all the knowledges bestowed upon us.
bariswheel··on Daylight Computer – New 60fps e-paper tablet
I'm surprised by this and it sort of came out of nowhere, how'd you all beat Amazon and other big tech to the market?
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